Stronger than Fear
by AdAbolendam
Summary: Four years after RotJ, Luke finally moves to Coruscant to rebuild the Jedi Order. He and Leia have some catching up to do. And he senses she is hiding something. *A little on the squishy side, but what's wrong with little squish between long-lost siblings?*


**Content: Luke moves to Coruscant after three years with the Rogue Squadron to begin work on rebuilding the Jedi Order. The Temple is being renovated and the survivors of the Purge have assembled, but before business Luke's got some catching up to do.**

**Disclaimer: There is far too much dialogue and too little loss of limb in this fic to be the work of GL, but I appreciate the opportunity to play with his characters!**

**Notes: Takes place 4 years after RotJ. One of several vignettes that takes place in my 'Empty Spaces' series. Can be read in context with the others or by itself.**

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'Okay. Of course I understand. I just… Hurry up and get here as soon as you can, okay? But, fly carefully! Yes, I know it's you. That's why I said it. I love you too. Okay. I will. Bye. Goodnight.'

She let out a long breath and set the comlink back on the counter.

'I take it he's not coming,' came a voice from her elbow.

'Tomorrow morning,' she announced with a sigh. 'That's as soon as he can get here.'

'Okay, that's just… what?' Luke Skywalker checked the chrono display on the kitchen wall. 'Not even twelve hours.'

Leia pressed her lips together in a tight smile.

'It's silly,' she berated herself. 'I just want him back.'

'I don't think it's silly to want to be close to your husband,' Luke called over his shoulder as he meandered toward the couch.

'How many have you had?'

He picked up his half-empty tumbler and frowned.

'Two? And a half? Maybe? I'm celebrating! We're celebrating! Join me!'

She smoothed her dress and sunk into the couch next to him.

'I'd like to,' she said. 'But I want to be alert tomorrow.'

'I understand.' He leaned forward, grabbed the bottle of whisky off the caf table and poured himself another drink. 'So, if it's all the same to you, I'll have yours.'

Leia felt her mouth twitch. 'Making up for lost time?'

'Something like that.'

'What, the Rogues don't drink?'

'Oh, they do,' Luke said with a bemused grin. 'But Jedi don't. At least, Jedi that are fighter pilots by day and training when the pilots are drinking, don't drink.'

'General Kenobi really should have warned you about the sacrifices involved before he recruited you.'

'Tell me about it,' he agreed, knocking back the contents of the glass in one gulp.

Leia choked on her laughter as her brother's eyes watered and he began to cough uncontrollably.

'Smooth,' he gasped between coughs.

She patted him on the back.

'Easy there, farmboy.'

He shot her a dark look as he struggled to catch his breath.

She bit her lip with amusement as she watched him play out an unintentional pantomime, reaching for the bottle to pour another round, then hesitating, then reaching again, finally collapsing back into the sofa, as if conceding defeat.

'Are you sure you're going to be up for going to the Temple tomorrow?' Leia asked.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and she could imagine him anticipating the hangover he was sure to wake up to.

'I don't need to be there until after noon. Most of the elders are already getting situated in the renovated upper levels. There are two more arriving tomorrow.'

'How many are there?'

'Eleven,' he announced. 'Eleven Jedi who survived the Purge and who are able and willing to train or continue training. Five of those were only padawans when the order to kill the Jedi was given. Order 66.'

'Padawans?'

'Initiates,' Luke explained. 'Not even fully-accredited Jedi Knights. They had to undergo a series of trials before they were knighted. One of them wasn't even a padawan. He was just a child at the temple. Five years old at the time of the Purge. Now, he's older than me and I guess it's up to me to complete his training.'

'Are you up for the challenge?' She teased.

'I'm up for _a_ challenge.' He crossed his legs and turned to face her. Leia couldn't help but think that he looked younger than his twenty-seven years, for once. She smiled as she saw in her mind's eye the naïve boy from Tattooine who burst into her cell to rescue her almost a decade ago.

'I was so restless with the Rogues, Leia,' he continued. 'The first year it was fine, but these last few… I told myself I was needed, but I wasn't really. Wedge has the squadron under control. I just got complacent.'

'We spoiled you in the Rebellion. Now you can't live a life without the constant threat of danger.'

He looked up at her through dark blonde fringe.

'There may be an element of that,' he admitted. 'But I've put off rebuilding the Order for too long.'

'Seems like you've done some research.'

'When I've had a chance.'

'Well, I'm glad you are back. I was used to having you close all those years. Seeing you once or twice a year when you are on leave, a few holos a month…'

'It's not the same.'

'No,' she agreed with a smile.

Luke lapsed into silence and Leia relaxed into the sofa, gazing up at the ceiling. Her thoughts drifted to the Corillian corvette and its pilot and their impending arrival. She never met Han down at the docks, but she was wondering if she should make an exception. Then he was sure to know something was amiss. Maybe she should just wait—

'So are you going to tell you what's going on with you?'

'Excuse me?' Leia eyed her brother.

'Come on, Leia,' he said. 'I appreciate the welcome home. I get that Han's away and I like that you've had me over for the last few days…'

'Luke, I told you,' she broke in. 'I just don't like being alone in this apartment. I don't know how to be by myself anymore. I've never been not working and had him gone at the same time.'

'Nope,' he said, with a confidence borne out of inebriation. 'I don't buy it.'

'You don't,' she stated.

'Nope. You are looking for a distraction. I can feel it. You're as nervous as a womprat in a laser sight.'

'Thank you for that disturbing glimpse at your childhood.'

'Admit it. It doesn't take a Jedi or family to sense that something's off. And I'm both.'

'You're drunk,' she retorted.

'I'm tipsy.'

'Well I'm… pregnant.'

Luke opened his mouth but didn't make a sound. Instead, he shook his head as if trying to clear it.

Leia smiled tightly.

'And… Han doesn't know. Yet. I wanted to tell him in person. But he's been delayed now for three days. I've known almost since the day he left, but it's not the kind of thing you mention casually in a holo. I had work to keep me busy this last month and I took some time off for when I _thought_ that he'd be home. Then the mission was delayed another week. Luckily, you had just come back to Coruscant. I'm glad you're here, Luke. But you're right; I needed a distraction.'

She paused.

'You should say something now.'

Luke caught himself staring and blinked.

'Wow,' he said softly.

Leia smiled again. 'You really didn't know, did you?'

'No,' he admitted. 'I knew something was different… When you don't want me to know something, Leia, you do not let me know. You have very strong natural barriers.'

'Well, I'm glad I could surprise you.'

Luke cleared his throat.

'Can I hug you?'

She laughed, 'Of course you can!'

She returned his careful embrace, her face flushing as his hand gently rubbed her lower back.

'You're not going to break me, Luke.'

He withdrew, blushing.

'I know. I guess I've never really been around little people, especially when they were, you know, inside someone.'

She laughed and relaxed a little as he joined her.

'I mean, I just don't really know the rules,' he concluded.

'Well, I'm kind of figuring it out for myself,' she admitted. 'But I'm fairly sure they can survive you, Luke.'

'They?'

'Oh, yes,' Leia glanced at her hands. 'A boy and a girl.'

'You're going to have twins?'

She nodded.

'Wow,' he repeated.

This time, his embrace came without hesitation.

'I know,' she said. 'Two generations in a row. What are the chances? Luke? Luke, are you okay? Are you crying?'

She felt him shake his head against her shoulder.

'You are!'

'Can you leave this part out when you tell Han?'

Leia screwed up her mouth and Luke sighed.

'Of course not,' they said together.

He pulled back and wiped his face with his shirt-sleeve.

'They're really lucky, Leia. They get a childhood together.'

'Unlike us,' she concluded. 'Do you regret the way we were raised?'

'Yes,' he replied.

'I don't,' she countered. 'How many brothers and sisters do you know that are as close as we are? Most of them get fifteen to twenty years at each other's throats and by the time they leave home…'

'I know what you mean. But it was a lonely way to grow up.'

'That it was,' she muttered.

'But that's not it.'

'What is it then?'

'We're all orphans. You, me, Han… Chewie has a family but he barely gets to see them,' he explained. 'We don't really have a family. _I_ never thought I'd have a family again. Except for you.'

She wiped the remainder of his tears with her thumb.

'Now you do.'

He kissed her wrist.

'Leia?'

'Hmmm?'

'Do you mind…?' He glanced at her belly.

'No.' She guided his hand over her lower abdomen and rested it on the small rise that had appeared in the last few weeks.

Luke closed his eyes and began to breathe shallowly.

'Wow,' he said after a few moments.

'You keep saying that,' she chided.

'Sorry.'

'Don't be.'

He opened his eyes and slowly pulled back his hand.

'They're like us, aren't they? Like… like He was,' she asked.

Vader was always a nebulous proper pronoun when Leia spoke of him. This was done out respect for her brother's feelings. It seemed more polite that the other monikers she used when Luke was out of earshot.

He glanced up at her, 'I think so.'

She sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

'I wish they weren't. I wish they were like Han.'

'It would be easier, wouldn't it?' Luke asked.

Leia turned to him. 'I have to be able to understand, Luke. I have to know more. About the Force.'

'Are you saying you want to train as a Jedi?'

'I'm saying I have to be able to teach my children how to be good people. And if my children are strong in the Force, then I have to know how to guide them.'

'So…'

She fell silent and looked at her hands. She couldn't make herself say it. How she woke up every night in a cold sweat since the day she found out she was pregnant. How much she had wanted children and how scared she was. How long it had taken Han to convince her that it was alright.

'You're afraid,' he realized. 'Leia, you have no reason—

'You know that's not true,' she interrupted. 'Can you- can you protect them if I can't?' She knew she was begging and she hated herself for it. 'Can you save them from—from turning into Him?'

'You're not giving yourself enough credit. You are a beacon of light in the dark. You always have been,' Luke said, clutching her hand for emphasis. 'And your husband is a good man… most of the time. You have nothing to be afraid of.'

'I want to believe you,' she admitted. 'I want to believe that's not just the whisky talking.'

'It's me,' he said, grinning. 'Whisky just makes me more loquacious.'

'Okay.'

'Okay?'

She sniffed and straightened herself, 'Okay, I'll do it. I'll learn to be a Jedi. I'll let you teach me.'

'Really?'

She nodded. 'On one condition. If I lose control, if I sense myself faltering, even for a second, I'm done. And you have to respect that decision.'

Luke's shoulders drooped, 'Leia, everyone falters once in awhile.'

'I'm not everyone,' she declared with finality. 'Those are my terms.'

'Your diplomatic skills are getting rusty.'

'I helped lead a rebellion, Luke,' she reminded him. 'We weren't big on diplomacy.'

He allowed himself a smirk and held out a hand.

'I accept your terms, Princess Organa-Solo.'

He rocked to his feet and pulled her up from the sofa.

'Come here,' he said. 'One more hug. Let me do it properly this time.'

He pulled her close and kissed her on the forehead.

'For the record, I think you're being much too hard on yourself, but I would be honoured to help in any way I can. You are going to make a great mother.'

'Thank you, Luke,' Leia felt herself blushing again.

'Come on,' he said. 'I need to go to bed and so do you. You have an important conversation tomorrow morning.'

'Alright,' she agreed, walking him to the door.

He turned back suddenly, remembering something. 'Could you at least explain to Han that I had had a few drinks? When you tell him about the… you know…'

'I don't think that's necessary,' she quipped. 'It takes away from the spontaneous sweetness of the moment.'

Luke groaned.

'I do love you,' he said.

'I know.'

'But I'll never hear the end of this.'

'I know.'

'Goodnight, Leia.' He kissed her cheek. 'Congratulations.'

'Goodnight, Luke. Thank you.'

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**Thanks for reading! You guys are awesome. Love reading your comments!**


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